General Convention, July 2009

I have been following the speakers and news briefs that have come out of the General Convention of TEC and it has been a bit exciting. I certainly wish I could be there that is for sure! Today I listened to the ECW (Episcopal Church Women) speaker the wonderful Phyllis Tickle. As I am a huge fan of her writing and have a read a number of her books, I wanted to hear her speak. Since I could not be there the video of her speech was the next best thing. Her talk was interesting, and thought provoking and was impressive as well.

I'm very proud to be called an Episcopalian.

The Real America

I have been ranting and raving for years about about the lack of real statesmen in our government these days, and like many of you I listen to the political punsters and get frustrated or angry about the side I am presently against or for whomever they are these days. But today, I watched one of most literate and funny men in the pulic eye these days on a PBS television show and he made a really profound statement - When we rise to sing together our national anthem The Star Spangled Banner politics does not matter.

We usually sing it together either just before a game, or else at the beginning of a concert. If we think about it, the song truly celebrates not the country or the land, but the people of this vast land. From the very beginnings of those small 13 colonies with those rag-a-muffin revolutionaries who despite their difference came together as one nation, right up to today and those who change our world here in the 21st century.

Whether we are Republican, or Democrat we are always first and foremost Americans, together.

When Garrison Keiller said that, I heard it reverberate through my mind and it made me realize that when we all stand, no one single voice stands out because it takes all our voices to sing it together to make us sing those words as one.

Now, granted there are often just that one famous voice who is asked to sing these verses but it becomes so much more, if we sing them together and sometimes it is in way too high a key or sometimes it can also be with tears that we sing those words.

This year, as we raise our voices remember we are drawn together as one nation. Afterall, this is the season to celebrate who we are and what we have as American with fireworks, as well as in singing our national song. Let those words wash over each in our nation and help us to celebrate our diversity, and fellowship as Americans.

Happy Fouth of July 2009 everyone!

Reel Life

The John Wayne American,
Is not truly a U.S.
Institution
Only an ghost of that
Cowboy.

In truth we are

Not those rugged individuals,

But really each
is one of many
Who need.

A Life of Roses

Tonight, Charlie Rose spoke with Eli Wieselon PBS.  The pain, even after all these years from losing his much beloved father in Buchenwald Concentration Camp is still so evident.  I've read a few of his books, and his honesty dances across the pages.   Those words - his words can make me cry when I read them.  

It seems  that reading those many words is not enough to understand the whole of the Holocaust, but his few words can march through your heart and leave such big impressions!  Who we are in this world must be learned from the wise people of this world.  Some of the lessons are painful, but they can in the end give so many blossoms that open the heart into some of the most beautiful roses of life.

The Winds of Change

My garden is a reflection of my visions as a life painter. It shows my voice and the joys, pains and hurts that colors my life in the rolling mounds of green that are a precursor to the flowers that are to come this summer.

I love the varying shades of emerald and forest that shine through the leaves of the various kinds of flowers that populate my little triangle in our sea of grass and all that is wild in an unfertilized space of green. I also have some of the problems that go with the natural world - like an over abundance of ant hills. But it's not hard to live in this kind of place. It does not yell or change its mind as the wind changes.

Foxglove

I'm waiting for these beauties to climb the stalks with those velvety leaves and pop out with those glorious pink bells! So many of my perennials did not survive this past winter and I feel these holes in my garden, severely. I've filled in many of the holes with annuals, and they're ones I've not used ever before. Sweet Peas, African Daisies and Calendulas. Mostly through seeding an area since the cost of the plants are too much so the seeds will have to do. I'm impressed with the lovely green leaves that are surfacing from those seeds now. The sunflowers look rather a lovely, sturdy green already too.

I actually counted the perennials that I lost and it is over 15 different plants! But the annuals are filling the voids rather well and that is thrilling for me.

So despite the tough times, my garden truly holds a special hope for a beautiful plot of petals and leaves by mid-summer.

Reading the Written Word

I'm a writer, and a reader so when I look for material to digest I tend to do more than an ordinary person in the volumes I consume. Like food, a good book can leave a taste in your mouth that says, "I want more!" or a stomach turning disgust. Since I'm picky I tend to carefully choose what I want to sink into a comfy chair with these days.

Being a history buff I often look for authors that can take me back accurately and offer a good read too (That's a gift that many authors don't succeed at in my opinion.). Some of my favorite authors are not the ones that are often found on the New York Times Best Seller list though. But some are old favorites to many readers that I know.

Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey books fascinate me as do Margery Allingham's Albert Campion series. At present the world of the mystery novel has my total reading attention and I am enjoying that delicious tingle as the book takes me between the covers and into the lives of the characters.

What makes a really good mystery novel for anyone? For me the formulaic crime novel totally fails in the long run. I really enjoy a good series where in each book we are taken in a new direction and where we can watch the main characters grow. In fact that is the best part of most stories in my opinion. In books, as in life sometimes people aren't allowed to, or cannot grow and we lose the intrigue for those life stories then. I have to have a well created yarn within the confines of a fascinating setting as well.

So right now if I had to choose a favorite mystery character it would have to be....hmmm, Hercule Poirot, no maybe Inspector Morse! So...who is your favorite mystery character?